Polish-French cooperation is gaining momentum, says Polish FM
Radoslaw Sikorski, the Polish deputy prime minister and foreign minister, wrote on the X platform following a meeting with his counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot in Paris that bilateral collaboration was accelerating.
"This is good news for Poland, France and all Europe," Sikorski wrote after their meeting on Monday.
According to the Polish foreign ministry, today's discussions focused on the positive results of the First Polish-French intergovernmental summit agreed upon by the Treaty of Nancy, the Polish-French Cultural Season 2027, and the peace process in Ukraine."
Asked by PAP whether his visit to Paris was connected with the US decision to halt the rotation of a US brigade in Poland and whether there was any new information from the US side, Sikorski said that "the visit had been planned much earlier."
Referring to Polish-US relations, Sikorski said that it was the Presidential Palace which had been seeking to capitalise on the ideological closeness and personal relationship between President Karol Nawrocki and President Donald Trump. "We are counting on the president's effective intervention in this matter," he added.
Sikorski also denied Ukrainian media reports, according to which Poland and France were against the opening of all six clusters in EU-Ukraine accession negotiations. "This cannot be true since, let me recall, during Poland's EU presidency [in the first half of 2025] we were calling for the opening of two negotiation clusters," he said, adding that this depended on the fulfilment of criteria by Ukraine.
"What is also needed here is an EC opinion. Ukraine must meet all the membership conditions as well as cluster opening and closing conditions, but we will not create artificial barriers to intensive negotiations, which will hopefully conclude successfully," he said.
Earlier in the day, Sikorski and Barrot attended the opening of a renovated seat of the Polish Institute in Paris.
Reuters reported on May 15 that the temporary deployment to Poland of the 2nd Armoured Brigade Combat Team had been abruptly cancelled. CNN stated that the decision was part of a series of steps aimed at reducing the US military presence in Europe. On May 1, the Pentagon announced the withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from Germany.
Following the announcement, Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz will meet on Wednesday with General Dan Caine, Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Chief of the General Staff, General Wieslaw Kukula, will meet with Commander of US Forces in Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, on Tuesday. (PAP)
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